Arizona, Kitfox, GoPro

[DesertFox4]

A couple videos from yesterdays short flight.

75 degrees, 3mph breeze. Hope it warms you up a little if you're experiencing cold temps where you live.

Natural sound (wind noise), with no music or cockpit recording.


2nd video is longer and shows a flight from Thunder Ridge airpark to Glendale, AZ airport. Passed just north of Luke Air Force Base and had two F-16's with Thunderbird paint schemes on them fly right over me. You can see me rock my wings at them if you watch the whole video and also you will see Phoenix University Stadium on the left as we approach Glendale. It's the big silver "bedpan" shaped structure where this years NFL ProBowl and the Super Bowl will be played soon. http://www.universityofphoenixstadium.com/

Also, just before landing at Glendale you will see Camelback Park slide under the Kitfox. This is the spring training home of the White Socks and the Dodgers. http://web.camelbackranchbaseball.com/index.jsp

1. http://youtu.be/CmbEKK0qA9w 11 minutes

2. http://youtu.be/L1oawP-fLbc 22 minutes

[cap01]

nice videos , sure have some different landscape down there . is the go pro mounted on that rig from kitfox that attaches to the outbd spreader rod for the struts ? also are you using the prop filter ?

[rv9ralph]

Great video.. I watched the first one 11 minutes. Did you see the goat, or some critter, standing on the ridge to the left about 4 minutes into the video?

Ralph

[DesertFox4]

Cap01- yes the mount is the one that mounts on the strut bar and is available from Kitfox Aircraft. Yes the filter is on the GoPro.

See link for write up on neutral density filters.
- http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=5049&page=2

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[DesertFox4]

Rv9ralph- that animal on the top of that little ridge is a man made metal burro that has been up there since I started flying the desert back in 1999.

[Kurt.A]

What a Beautiful day for flying. Sure beats looking at all the snow we have.
Thanks for that.

[Bryan]

Really enjoyed the videos. This time of year I have to resort to watching these to get my fix as the weather here really makes it hard to get up in the air much. However it allows more time to build. Thanks for the fix.

[Meyertheflyer]

http://youtu.be/zjqT886qwaU

I enjoyed your videos so much that I mounted a gopro of my own and gave it a try. Excuse my Midwest accent.

[jrevens]

That was real good, Bob! I liked your narration!

[Flybyjim]

Very nice video, I liked visiting that area when one of my daughters lived in Maracopa.

[colospace]

Enjoyed the history/geography, but what accent? (says the Kentucky/Texas boy)
Nice T-shirt too!

[SkySteve]

Very nice, Bob. I especially liked your commentary and the "road flying". Looks like you are an official member of the Stephen Stills "Treetop Flyers" club. You do remember him don't you?

[Meyertheflyer]

Yes I remember and still love that song! Thankyou!

[DesertFox4]

Nice video Bob. That was fun.


All very familiar geography with the exception of the internment camp. Will look that up and visit.

[jiott]

Love the narration! It makes the video much more interesting than the typical music background.

[Jesse]

I fly A model 5 speedster out of Mesa falcon field (KFFZ). We should meet up sometime to fly. 480-720-7695

[Meyertheflyer]

Stop by any time at Chandler. I'm at hangar N-6. We have several Kitfox owner/builders on the field. Always nice to have another to fly with. We have an active EAA chapter also that John McBean spoke to last May.

[Jesse]

I would love to stop by at some time in the future. I have been doing maintenance on the model 5 but my time has been spent all over so it has been progressing slowly. I will touch base with you guys in a few weeks hopefully. Also I plan to fly with the APA to double circle ranch flyin May 8-10 but we will see.

[Paul Z]

Well I've finally got my GoPro mount fabricated. Pretty simple design, with 3 Adell clamps. I took it on a flight last week, I still have the GoPro. It didn't land in the pond, the farmers field, or the Lake. When I got back to the airport a tweak or two and it's ready to go. As soon as I get my Advanced Flight back from the factory, I'll put it in and then off to test the GoPro and the Advanced Flight.

[DesertFox4]

Looks good and stout Paul.

I drilled that plastic mount and the aluminum bracket under it front and back and installed tiny flush head bolts with elastic nuts. Guess I didn't totally trust the 3M tape to retain my GoPro. ;)

[SkySteve]

Paul,
You could mount a full sized cinema camera on that thing, plus hang a couple rifle scabbards and a pair of snow shoes (maybe a lawn chair, too). :D

[Paul Z]

I minimized the amount of labor. I took a piece of 1/4" X 2" X 10 inches long aluminum & 1/4" X 2" X 2" X 2 .5 inches long aluminum angle, JB Weld epoxy, 4 rivets & 3 Adele clamps, no welding required. I will probably bore a few large lightening holes, but I just wanted to make it work, then I will modify. I had it too far back at first, so I re-drilled the mounting holes, so it is a little further out so the camera has a little more Clearance. I took some photo's as I flew but like an idiot I deleted every last one of them. I was trying to figure out how to turn it on & off etc., and how to use the iPad App worked. Here is another picture from the other side.

Now here is the airplane side story (that most people normally don't talk about ) to installing the GoPro Mount:
As I was testing it, as I climbed out right as I was turning Cross Wind started hearing a banging from the engine area. :eek: Now everyone realize, I wear ANR headsets and I am very hard of hearing. So it must have been LOUD. I called the tower and said I wanted to make an immediate Emergency landing to figure out what was banging. He cleared me to land with the wind. I killed the engine, once I killed the engine the noise stopped. I did a dead stick landing about mid field. As I rolled out from my landing the Tower called and said now that was a nice landing. :cool: I started her up again, no noise, pulled up to the FBO got out of the plane and found that the Reiff Heater plug had broken loose hanging out of the back of the cowling, and was banging on the firewall at the turn under heat shield under the fuselage. I shook my leg to Clean out my pants, got back in the plane, started it up, called ground control for clearance to taxi to the hanger. Just as soon as I ask for clearance, she said did you figure out what the problem was, and :mad: I had to admit what happened. Damned that was embarrassing! So off to the hanger to pull the cowling and fix tie wrap the cord in place. I also decided it was time to fix my Advanced Flight System so it got pulled as well. We have had crappy weather lately so ok with me to be grounded a few days. I'm also going to order a hard mount type of Male Connector used in RV's to plug the Extension cord in.

[Paul Z]

Paul,
You could mount a full sized cinema camera on that thing, plus hang a couple rifle scabbards and a pair of snow shoes (maybe a lawn chair, too). :D

The lawn chair would cause too much drag, and what the devil do I need Snow shoes for, I live in Tejas. Now a gun scabbard is a good idea. :D

[dynomike]

you good story out of it anyway.cool head to kill the engine

[Paul Z]

I can say I turned off the engine, but I'll admit I was anything but cool about it. I'm surprise, that as nervous as I was, I was even able to do a decent landing. The one thing that helped was I watched a you tube video of a man doing a emergency landing after engine out. He took off cut the engine to idle, did a 180 turn, and safely landed with the wind. I figured if he could I could. When I declared an emergency, the tower asked the other 2 pilots in pattern I had an Emergency, and he cleared me to land wherever I felt was comfortable. Before he even cleared me I had started my time turn, and was lining up for the middle of the runway, just in front of the tire. One othe plane was approaching and he also informed him he would be waiting for an emergency. I would recommend to everyone to watch that you tube video. I'll have to find it and post it later.

[SkySteve]

Wow! Great save, Paul. I took a friend for a ride once and got in a hurry during pre-flight. I had a paper towel in my hand which I used to wipe an oil drip off the bottom of the front cowl. As I got up I stuffed the towel into the bottom of the front cowl while answering a question and planned to grab it later, which I promptly forgot to do. Just after lift off I smelled something hot and oily and then remembered the paper towel. Called tower and said I needed to set the plane down, which I had already started to do. He cleared me just as I landed and darted off the next taxiway to the ramp. Jumped out without saying anything to my passenger and pulled the scorched paper towel from its hiding place. I was pretty embarrassed when I climbed back into the plane as the tower was calling me to ask if I was OK. had to explain what happened to the tower in front of my new passenger. Not a great day. LOL.

[Meyertheflyer]

I've been using the cloud based engineering GoPro mount on the struts of my SuperSport. It has held up well and I leave it attached. I don't get the jello effect when I use it. I have tried to build something similar but this is better.
https://www.cloudbaseengineering.com/

[jmodguy]

I have to admit that these videos of flying a KF in the rugged west is what drove me to the KF airframe.
I will be in the Tucson area for a couple weeks in january. Anyone willing to take a IN flatlander out for a thrill of a lifetime??? :D

Regards
Jeff

[DesertFox4]

Jeff, I'm up in Phoenix but if you'll P.M. or email your contact info and dates you will be in Tucson, I may be able to accomodate.

Mine is a model 4 with a Rotax 912 S 100 hp.

Maybe we could meet at the Marana airport just N.W. of Tucson.

[jmodguy]

Shoot dang yeah! I should be there 2nd or 3rd week of Jan. Will keep you posted. Expecting a 2 week stay. I work the 747-200 flying test bed that's based at TUS. Might be a busy year in Tucson...
Regards
Jeff